Hosiery



HOSIERY` Filed June 21, 1962 A TTORNEY United States Patent O 3,196,640 HGSERY Harold 1rLouis Hanisch, Fond du Lac, Wis., assigner to Infants Socks Incorporated, Fond duLac, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 21, 1962, Ser. No. 2tl4,147 Claims. (Cl. 665-172) The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting and more particularly to hose formed of a plurality of separately knit fabric portions as made upon a plurality of separate machines wherein the said portions are joined by Ia novel and relatively inexpensive method of seaming to form the hose, and to the resulting novel hose itself. Such hose, considered in its entirety, may thus be economically manufactured to contain any desired characteristics of design, stitch formation, elasticity, finish, or the like, which Imay -be compositely contained in said plurality of fabric portions as made by said plurality of machines and which hose is not made, in its entirety, upon any single one only of said machines.

It is a principal Object of the present invention to provide a method of peripherally joining a knit top portion, as made upon a first knitting machine, to a knit leg and foot portion, as made upon a second knitting machine, by means of a sewn seam, as made upon a seeming or sewing machine, in order to form hosiery; and to provide the hosiery resulting from such method.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide the seam-joined hosiery above set forth wherein the top and the leg portions thereof may be specially formed to faci-litate their joining and to improve the hosiery itself.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the seam-joined hosiery above set forth wherein the top and/or the leg portions thereof, or the terminal courses lof such portions, may be formed of relatively extensible yarn, as hereinafter defined, to facilitate the joining yand to improve the hosiery itself.

It is a further object of the invention to provide, as one example thereof, hosiery of the above set forth construction wherein the top portion is of rib knit formation with a wrap yarn design incorporated therein and wherein the leg and foot portions thereof are of plain knit formation.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide .at least two styles Iof hosiery having the above set forth construction in one of which the top is turned down relative to the -leg and in the other of which the top extends upwardly in continuation of the leg.

The above and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed Vdescription of a pair of preferred embodiments thereof to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and from the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of one preferred embodiment of tubular hose of the present invention in the form of a turned down top style of anklet or stocking having a separately knit rib top and plain leg, the latter having the usual foot formed therewith.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the rib top fabric itself prior to being joined to the leg.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the upper end of the leg fabric itself prior to being joined to the top fabric.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the top and -of the upper end of the leg of the hose of FIG. l in their relative disposition after being joined along terminal courses thereof by a seaming operation.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the joined top and leg of the hose of FIG. l after the seaming operation and with the top turned up from its position of FIG. 4 to extend `as a continuation of the leg to show that portion of the hose which is normally hidden from view beneath hee the turned down top, the latter position of the top being indicated in dotted lines.

FlG. 6 is a schematic view showing the stitch arrangement for a -selvage at the start of the leg knitting.

FIG. 7 is fan enlarged diagrammatic view showing stitches of a portion of the rib top with la yarn change for a plurality of its terminal courses and also -showing stitches of a portion of the plain leg with a yarn change after a plurality of lits beginning courses and schematicalj 1y showing the seam joining these portions of the rib top and of the plain leg. Y

FIGS. 8 and 9 are side elevational views of the top and of the upper end of the leg of a second preferred embodiment of tubular hose of the present invention wherein the style thereof is such that the top normally extends wholly upwardly in continuation of the leg.

The present invent-ion may be used to form hose wherein the top portion thereof is of rib or is of plain knit or is of other formation and wherein the leg portion is likewise of rib or of plain knit or of other formation. The choice of hose with rib top and plain leg to illustrate the invention is not to be considered as limiting the invention thereto. Similarly, the invention is not to be considered as being limited to tubularly formed fabric sections, as made upon circular knitting machines, inasmuch as the scope of the invention is intended to include fabric sections as made upon ilat knitting machines.

The hose shown in FIG. l is preferably provided With ya turned down rib knit tubular top 10 and a plain knit tubular leg 11 having the usual foot 12 formed in continuation thereof, the said top and leg being securely joined by a seaming operation in a manner to be set forth. The top 10 may be provided with a design 13, of yany desired configuration, which, in this example, is made upon a generally single purpose rib machine wherein the outsi-de plain or cylinder wales in the fabric have individual wrap yarns selectively plated thereon to formthe design. The plain leg 11 and foot 12 may be formed upon any desired type of generally single purpose open head 4or sinker top hosiery machine which may be referred t-o as a footer or as a footing machine. It is preferred that the foot-er be capable of starting its knitting with a selvage. While the hose herein illustrated is shown as being composed of a single top portion joined to a single leg and foot portion, it will be understood that the inventin is not so limited and that the hose may be composed of a larger number of individual portions, if so desired. The above reference to single purpose machines is to indicate that each machine so designated generally produces only the fabric described in connection therewith.

Heretofore, in the prior manner lof manufacture of this general type of rib top hose, the separately knit tops, after being made upon a separate rib wrap machine, were then individually hand transferred, stitch by stitch of a loose course thereof, with the aid of a transfer point ring, individually to the needles of a separate footing machine to thereafter form the leg and the foot of the hose during which the top was joined by knitting to the leg as the stitches of the first course of the leg were knit through the transferred rib stitches then on the needles of the footer. This type of hose is referred to as one having a transferred top, an-d the method of making the same is an obviously highly skilled, time consuming and relatively expensive operation. It generally requires that the total number of the needles of the rib machine be equal in number to the number of needles of the foot-ing machine, so that specific machines are required. It may be noted that the efficiency of this transfer method of knitting decreases sharply when the footing machines are permitted to remain idle while awaiting the placing of tops thereon by the operator.

alessio The present invention obviates all of the dithcultics inherently encountered in the manufacture of transferred top hosiery by the elimination of the transferring operation entirely and, in place thereof, provides for the legs and the tops to be joined by a seaming operation. lt permits the footing machines to be now operated continuously, similar to the continuous operation of the top making machines, it eliminates the need for the skilled transfer point ring operators, it no longer requires the same number of needles in the t-op and in the footing rnachines, it permits the tops and the legs to have different numbers of wales therein, it permits the tops to be made upon flat machines while the legs are made upon circular machines, and, very importantly, it permits a more economical inventory of and material ow of the leg and of the foot fabrics to the seaming machine operators each of whom is readily capable of handling much more hose than the quantity heretofore handled by the transfer ring operators.

It is within the scope of the present invention to form the top and leg portions of relatively non-extensible yarns, one example of which is cotton; to form them of relatively extensible yarns, one example of which is Helanca stretch yarn; to form the top portion of relatively extensible yarn while forming the leg portion of relatively non-extensible yarn or vice versa; or to form one or both of the portions so that the majo-rity of their courses are formed of the relatively non-extensible yarns while their remaining courses are formed of the relatively extensible yarns. The latter arrangement is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

To -carry out the present invent-ion, the individually made tops and legs are preferably modified to some extent to facilitate the joining operation and to improve the hose itself. As may be seen in FIG. 2, the top itl is formed of a section of rib fabric M which is knit in the customary manner of relatively non-extensible yarn down to the course line where a yarn change is made so that the remaining or terminal courses of the top fabric to the end 16 thereof is knit of relatively extensible yarn. VIn FlG. 2, the line .17 indicates the approximate fold line of the fabric Iin forming the turned down top and thel line ifi .indicates the approximate course line along which the top fabric is to be jo-ined to the leg by the seaming operad ltion during which .the terminal courses'of area l@ are lremovably severed, leaving the terminal courses of area lremaining above seam 2l, FIG. 5.

As may be seen in FlG. 3, the upper portion of leg il in FIG. 1 is indi-cated at 22, the start of which is shown at 23. Preferably at the start of the leg a selvage is pro vided as a safeguard to prevent ravelling in the fabric during subsequent handling thereof, the stitch structure of such selvage is shown in FIG. 6 wherein the yarn 24 has been taken for `at least one course by alternate needles lof the footer after which all of the needles knit this yarn through the first course thereof which is disposed at the rear of intervening needles and at the front of the alternate needles below the latches thereof. The yarn 24 may be of the same relatively extensible character Ias that used to form areas 19 an-d Z0 of the top fabric 14. Knitting of ya-rn 24 continues to course line 25 at which point a yarn change is made s-o that .the remainder of the leg and foot may be knit in the customary manner of relatively nonextensible body yarn. This will Aprovide terminal course areas 26 :and 27 above and below the course line indicated at 23 along which the leg is to be joined to the -top` by the seaming operation lduring which the courses of area 26 will be removably severed leaving the courses of area 27 remaining below seam 21, FIG. 5.

The areas 20 and 27 are each of extensible or elastic garter-like character and are composed of extensible yarn stitches which are relatively small in comparison with the stitches of the non-extensible yarns of the leg and of the top, thus permitting the seam 21 to be of less bulk, to be relatively inconspicuous, and to be at least as extensible as the comparable portion of the transferred tcp type fi of hose. it will be noted, in this embodiment of the VinvenA tion, FIG. 5, that areas Ztl and 27 and seam 2l therebetween are normally disposed beneath the turned down top itl, shown here in dotted lines.

Preparatory to seaming top and leg together, fabric section 1V is placed over and around the fabric of the upper end of leg 22 in such manner that their edges le and 23 yare in peripheral alignment, with their right sides outermost, as `in FlG. 4. The opertor then proceeds to fee-d .these aligned edge portions of the two layers of fabric to a suitable seaming mach-ine, for example, of the type described in U.S, Patent to l. W. Ledwell, No. 2,903,872 or of a similar type to provide the general type of seam shown in the sai-d patent, which will progressively sever the fabric to remove area-s i9 and 26 thereof ahead l of a :progressively formed seam of suitable yarn which will join the two fabrics generally along their respective course lines i8 an-d 23 to thus provide the peripheral coursewise extending seam 21 as the full circumferential extent of the two fabric layers is fed to and is acted upon by the machine. Thus, of the terminal courses, the areas i9 and Z5 thereof may be termed waste courses. As will be understood from the said patent, the seam 21 and the yarn thereof is of such character as to provide a sufficient number of its stitches per inch so that the seam will effectively prevent `any ravelling of the cut edges of the knitted fabrics. rl`he number of seaming stitches per inch is so selected, in relation to the number offknit stitches per inch, that at least lmore than one (and in some instances at least two) of the seaming stitches extend or pass through each of .the knit stitches of each of the wales of the two fabrics. i/Vhile the edge areas of the two fabrics are stretched to some extent as the seam Ztl Vis formed therein, the use of the relatively extensible yarn in areas Ztl and 27 causes these areas to return toward their pre-stretched condition and diameter and, at the same time, to accordingly reduce the diameter and size of circular seam 2l. in this way `any enlarging effect of seam Z1 is substantially overcom The top fabric section f4 is then repositioned on the leg fabric 22 from its position shown in FlG. 4 to that shown in FIG. 1 to thereby form the turned down top. The seam 2li is of such character that the joined fabric edges may turn within and about the seam and thereafter be in flat abutting relation within the seam. During the aforesaid seeming operation, the wales of fabrics 14 and 22 needrnot necessarily be in any particular Walewise alignment nor do the fabrics have to be fed to the machine so that the seam 2l is disposed parallel to the courses of the fabrics, though Such disposition of the seam is desirable and will depend upon the skill of the operator. The seam 21 preferably encloses at least more than one and in some instances at least a pair of courses of each of the fabric layers though it may enclose a fewer or a greater number of courses.

In FIG. 7 the knit formation of a portion of the rib top and of the plain leg fabrics is shown. The outside plain wales of the rib fabric are shown at 29 while the inside rib wales. are shown at 3ft. The plain wes of the plain leg fabric are shown 4at 3i. The relatively non-extensible body yarn of the top fabric is indicated at 32 while that of the leg fabric is at 33. The relatively extensible yarn of the top fabric, being similar to that of the leg fabric, is similarly indicated at Z4. The courses 34 indicate the body yarn stitches of the top fabric while courses 3S indicate similar stitches of the leg fabric, and the stitches of yarn 24- in courses 36 indicate the area 2t) of the top fabric 14 while the stitches of yarn 24 in courses 37 indicate the :area 27 of the leg fabric 22. The individual stitches of the seam 2i are schematically indicated at 38 and it will be understood that there are at least more than one of the stitches 33 passing through each of the stitches of yarn 24 in each wale of the joined courses thereof and that the stitches 33 extend over more than one of the terminal courses Se and 37 of each of the ribs and ans-e640 of the plain fabrics. It will be understood that while no cut loops or loose ends are shown in FIG. 7 in the seam 21, as may result from the machine severing operation, such cut loops .and/ or loose ends may well be present and, if so, are generally incorporated within the seam 21.

While the Wales of the rib and of the plain fabrics have been shown as being generally equal in number and as being generally 1aligned in FIG. 7, it will -be understood that they need not necessarily be equal in number or be so disposed in the actual practise of the invention, this disposition and number of the wales having been chosen for purposes of illustration only. Furthermore, when the number of wales in the top differs from the number of wales in the leg, it will be obvious that they will not be in alignment in the hose. Also, while the rib fabricshown in FIG. 7 is of one by one construction, it will be linderstood that it may be of any other desired construction, such as two by one, two by two, or the like.

In the second embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the hose top 10' extends wholly upwardly in continuation of and from the leg 11' to which it 4is joined by seam 21' the formation of which is generally similar in all respects to the formation of seam 21 of the rst described embodiment. In the process of forming the second embodiment, the rib top fabric is placed on the upper end of the leg fabric, as shown in FIG. 9, wrong side out as is indicated by the design 13 being shown in dotted lines. After the formation of seam 21', the rib fabric is turned upwardly about the seam to form the turned up or straight hose top as shown in FIG. 8. Inasmuch as the seam 21 and the adjacent courses of the top and of the leg are visible, the courses of relatively extensible yarn of the top and of the leg, which remain after the severing and joining operation, may be reduced to a minimum number so that they may be substantially included within the seam 21.

It is to be understood that it is within the scope of the present invention to eliminate the yarn changes in the top and/or in the leg fabrics and to form these fabrics wholly of the relatively extensible yarns or wholly of the relatively non-extensible yarns even though the use of the latter yarns may result in a joining seam of somewhat more bulk. The removed areas, waste courses 19 and 26, may be of sutiicient walewise extent as may 4be required to enable the operator to properly handle and to feed the fabrics to the seeming machine, while the areas 20 and 27 may contain -a minimum number of courses, as described in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9, or may contain any reasonable desired greater number of courses. While the invention has been shown in connection with a decorated rib top and plain leg of hosiery, it is not so limited and is applicable to the peripheral or the coursewise joining of fabrics generally, regardless of the types of machines upon which they are made and regardless of how any decorations, including printed decorations, are made a part thereof. Also, while the courses of the joined fabric edges caught within the seam 21 are generally disposed in flat relation therein and which may be an abutting relation, at times they may be otherwise disposed depending upon variations in the yarns or in the number of courses within the seam or upon variations in the seam itself.

Since areas 19 and 26 are removed, one or both thereof may be formed of any desired type of waste yarn though areas 20 and 27 be formed of relatively extensible yarn, and area 26 may be started without the selvage construction of FIG. 6, the waste yarn being of such character as to provide a run resistant edge.

I claim:

1. Hosiery having a tubular rib knit top portion peripherally joined to a tubular plain knit leg portion by a coursewise extending seam enclosing terminal courses of said portions therein and wherein at least one of said portions is provided with a terminal are-a knit of relatively extensible yarn with the area adjacent thereto kuit of relatively non-extensible yarn, the said terminal area comprising the courses thereof enclosed in said seam and an additional plurality of courses of said relatively eX- tensible yarn between said adjacent area and said seam, the said seam having its lsewing stitches so arranged as to extend through each wale of said enclosed course.

2. Hosiery as set forth in claim 1 wherein said terminal area is knit of stretch yarn only and wherein said adjacent area is knit of cotton yarn.

3. Hosiery as set forth in claim 1 wherein a terminal area as described for at least one of said portions is provided for each of them.

4. Hosiery as set forth in claim 1 wherein said top portion is so proportioned that when it is turned down upon itself to provide a turned down top style of hosiery, it also covers said seam and said terminal area.

5. Hosiery having a tubular knit rib top portion peripherally joined to a tubular plain knit leg portion by a coursewise extending seam enclosing terminal courses of said portions therein and wherein at least one of said portions is provided with a terminal area knit of relatively extensible yarn with the area adjacent thereto knit of relatively non-extensible yarn, the said terminal area .having courses thereof enclosed in said seam, the said seam having its sewing stitches so arranged as to extend through each Wale of said enclosed courses.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,480,381 l/24 Feig r 66 172 2,263,763 11/41 Edwards 66-178 2,903,872 9/59 Ledwell 66-189 2,968,937 1/61 Margulies 66-187 2,980,917 4/61 Slane 2-239 2,985,001 5/61 Lamontagne et al 66-172 3,082,724 3/63 Washburn 112-269 3,090,963 5/63 Wittman 2-239 RUSSELL C. MADER, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner. 

1. HOISERY HAVING A TUBULAR RIB KNIT TOP PORTION PERIPHERALLY JOINED TO A TUBULAR PLAIN KNIT LEG PORTION BY A COURSEWISE EXTTENDING SEAM ENCLOSING TERMINAL COURSES OF SAID PORTIONS THEREIN AND WHEREIN AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PORTIONS IS PROVIDED WITH A TERMINAL AREA KNIT OF RELATIVELY EXTENSIBLE YARN WITH THE AREA ADJACENT THERETO KNIT OF RELATIVELY NON-EXTENSIVLE YARN, THE SAID TERMINAL AREA COMPRISING THE COURSES THEREOF ENCLOSED IN SAID SEAM AND AN ADDITIONAL PLURALITY OF COURSES OF SAID RELATIVELY EXTENSIBLE YARN BETWEEN SAID ADJACENT AREA AND SAID SEAM, THE SAID SEAM HAVING ITS SEWING STITCHES SO ARRANGED AS TO EXTEND THROUGH EACH WALE OF SAID ENCLOSED COURSE. 